SE27 


APRIJp,  )91# 

:L  ivr'f\ r XI 


What  Is  Being  Done  to 
Promote  the  Principles  of  Universal 
Brotherhood  in  Communities 

BY 

SHELBY  M.  HARRISON 


DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  SURVEYS  AND  EXHIBITS, 
RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 


Paper  read  before  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association,  March,  1918 
Reprinted  from  Religious  Education,  June,  1918 


Department  of*  Surveys  and  Exhibits 
Russell  Sage  Foundation 
New  York  City 

PRICE,  10  CENTS 


f*  ■ 


303'  12. 
W?-*%  W 


WHAT  IS  BEING  DONE  TO  PROMOTE  THE 
PRINCIPLES  OF  UNIVERSAL  BROTHER- 
HOOD IN  COMMUNITIES 

Shelby  M.  Harrison 

A certain  mother  put  her  one-year-old  baby  to  board  in  one  of 
the  charitable  institutions  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  a few  years  ago. 
She  was  a young  woman  who  had  married  a man  much  older  than 
herself  from  a nearby  town.  They  did  not  get  on  well  together  and 
the  wife  took  the  baby  and  left  for  Springfield,  where  she  hoped 
to  get  work.  But  nobody  wanted  a woman  worker’s  baby  around 
and  the  young  mother  put  the  child  in  the  institution  at  the  rate  of 
$1.00  a week.  Next  day  she  obtained  work  in  a shoe  factory  at 
$5.00  a week.  When  she  reached  home  from  her  first  day’s  work 
she  found  that  the  baby  had  been  returned  by  the  institution  because 
it  was  distressingly  ill  with  syphilis.  She  appealed  to  the  city  phy- 
sician who  prescribed  for  the  infant,  but  it  could  not  be  received 
at  a hospital.  She  tried  to  care  for  it  and  to  do  her  work  at  the 
same  time,  but  this  proved  impossible.  She  was  therefore  obliged 
to  give  up  her  place  at  the  factory.  She  then  appealed  to  another 
local  institution,  which  finally,  because  the  baby  was  badly  under- 
nourished and  the  mother  could  not  nurse  it  and  work  at  the  same 
time,  took  the  child  in. 

Although  a reconciliation  which  promised  in  some  measure  to 
lighten  the  load  she  was  carrying  was  later  effected  between  husband 
and  wife,  her  path  all  through  this  experience  fairly  bristled  with 
possible  moral  and  physical  dangers — not  to  mention  the  fact  of 
her  own  personal  distress.  The  critical  situation  in  her  home,  her 
need  of  advice  and  direction  with  reference  to  her  course,  the 
acceptance  of  the  child  by  the  institution  without  definite  informa- 
tion about  its  family,  or  without  a thorough  physical  examination 
of  the  child,  the  mother’s  acceptance  of  less  than  a living  wage, 
the  fact  that  there  was  no  place  in  the  city  where  a syphilitic  baby 
could  receive  hospital  treatment— all  of  these  pieced  together  a 
situation  in  which  a fellow  community-member  needing  the  friendly 


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service  which  both  individuals  and  the  community  should  supply 
stood  almost  alone,  while  the  individual  and  the  community  passed 
by  on  the  other  side. 

Less  Than  a Living  Wage 

At  the  same  time,  in  the  same  city,  another  type  of  situation 
was  drifting  along  apparently  without  the  public’s  either  knowing 
or  caring  about  it.  In  1914,  the  five-and-ten-cent  stores  in  Spring- 
field  employed  86  sales  girls.  Wages  among  them  were  very  low. 
The  average  was  from  $4.00  to  $5.00  per  week.  One  store  started 
new  recruits  at  $4.00;  one,  at  from  $3.60  to  $4.00;  and  the  third 
sometimes  started  them  at  $3.50.  The  maximum  rate  for  most 
positions  was  $5.00,  but  a few  special  tasks,  like  work  at  the  music 
counter,  which  required  piano-playing,  paid  more. 

All  three  stores  employed  only  girls  who  were  living  at  home. 
“They  are  better  girls  and  aren’t  so  apt  to  go  wrong,”  explained 
one  manager.  Another  was  more  frank : “A  girl  can  clothe  herself 
on  what  she  gets,”  he  said,  “but  she  can’t  pay  board  without  going 
wrong  or  stealing.  We  only  want  girls  who  live  at  home  and  don’t 
have  to  pay  board.”  As  a matter  of  fact,  girls  frequently  did  give 
way  to  the  temptation  to  steal — a temptationunade  more  compelling 
by  their  low  wages.  This  happened  frequently  enough  to  lead  the 
management  at  one  store  to  employ  a girl  at  $5.00  per  week  whose 
principal  duty  was  to  report  sales  clerks  who  tried  to  supplement 
their  wages  by  appropriating  merchandise  to  their  own  uses. 

Preventable  Deaths  Go  Unprevented 

Turning  to  a different  field  of  community  interest,  still  other 
wrongs  were  evident.  In  the  six  years  before  1914,  for  example, 
over  1,200  Springfield  residents  died  from  the  common  communic- 
able diseases,  and  several  thousand  more  were  made  ill.  At  least  a 
fourth  of  the  deaths  from  all  causes  could  be  laid  to  preventable 
causes,  such  as  the  contagions  of  children,  typhoid  fever,  and 
venereal  diseases.  The  greatest  single  agent  was  tuberculosis,  re- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


3 


sponsible  for  490  deaths  in  the  six  years  and  for  1 1 per  cent  of  all 
the  deaths  in  1913 — a year  studied  in  detail.  Over  700  infants 
under  one  year  of  age  had  died  in  the  six  years.  Nearly  half  of 
these  infant  deaths  resulted  from  the  ordinary  preventable  causes. 
The  toll  was  found  to  be  much  heavier  in  the  east  sections  of  the 
city,  where  Negroes,  foreign-born  whites,  and  illiterates  lived.  They 
also  had  the  highest  birth  rates  and  the  highest  proportions  of 
children  and  people  of  working  age;  and  those  were  the  districts 
which  had  called  for  the  largest  amounts  of  charity  work.  The 
plain  fact  was  that  there  people  were  dying  because  they  were 
ignorant ; because  they  were  poor ; because  they  were  surrounded  by 
bad  sanitary  conditions;  and  because  there  were  not  a sufficient 
number  of  people  in  the  city  who  were  interested  in  giving  them  a 
proper  health  service. 

Deficient  Public  School  Work 

In  the  field  of  public  education,  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger  had 
many  entries.  Although  organized  education  has  always  been  one 
of  our  biggest  public  interests,  nevertheless,  in  the  course  of  time, 
recognition  of  this  great  social  necessity  in  Springfield,  as  in  so  many 
other  places,  had  become  lax.  Compulsory  schooling — the  great 
slogan — had  long  since  lost  its  force  in  the  city;  and  attendance  in 
1914  had  come  to  be  only  mildly  enforced.  This  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  city  had  a greater  proportion  of  illiteracy  in  its  native 
white  population  than  any  other  city  of  over  30,000  population  in 
Illinois,  and  that  the  proportion  was  increasing.  The  chief  reason 
for  failure  to  enforce  the  law  seemed  to  be  a general  indifference  on 
the  part  of  the  entire  community — a slipping  back  from  the  early 
ideal  of  universal  education  as  the  corner  stone  of  democracy. 

But  another  factor  in  the  slack  attendance  was  the  character  of 
much  of  the  school  work  done.  It  showed  itself  when  a number  of 
leading  citizens  were  asked  to  pass  an  examination  on  material  used 
in  the  spelling,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  history  classes.  They 
failed  miserably.  The  school-book  material  was  of  a kind  seldom 


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or  never  used  in  offices,  stores  or  shops,  homes  or  churches  of  present- 
day  Springfield.  Little  wonder  that  much  of  the  work,  as  in  many 
another  city,  lacked  vitality  and  failed  to  grip  the  interest  of  the 
young  people  or  their  parents.  The  result  was  that  both  boys  and 
girls  dropped  out  in  large  numbers,  and  the  boys  were  the  first  to  go. 
While  some  handwork  had  been  introduced  into  the  curriculum, 
such  as  sewing,  cooking,  carpentry,  and  machine-shop  processes, 
the  strictly  vocational  courses  were  very  limited;  and  a large  part 
of  the  handwork  was  formal,  inelastic,  and  far  removed  from  the 
problems  of  real  life. 

This  was  largely  true  of  the  quality  of  the  class-room  instruction 
also.  There  was  too  much  lesson-getting  and  lesson-reciting,  and  too 
little  real  study  and  development  of  thinking ; and  back  of  that,  too 
little  contact  by  the  teachers  with  the  every-day  life  about  them. 

Neglect  of  Constructive  Possibilities  of  Play 

Another  kind  of  education — that  through  play — was  also  lagging 
behind.  The  old-time  games,  such  as  prisoner’s  base,  run  sheep  run, 
duck  on  the  rock,  leap  frog,  bull  in  the  ring,  had  nearly  died  out. 
The  only  diversions  reported  by  over  a fifth  of  the  boys  were  picture 
shows,  baseball,  reading,  and  kite-flying. 

Although  Springfield  people,  for  the  most  part,  live  in  detached 
houses  with  yards,  giving  opportunity  for  home  recreations  ranging 
all  the  way  from  children’s  indoor  and  outdoor  games  to  home  social 
gatherings,  yet  in  three-fifths  of  the  boys’  homes  and  in  nearly  half 
of  the  girls’  homes,  parties  for  young  people  were  not  held.  Nor  did 
social  agencies  outside  of  the  home  fill  the  need.  During  a three 
months’  period  only  eleven  out  of  the  twenty  public  schools  had 
evening  entertainments,  lectures,  or  social  gatherings.  On  an 
average,  only  once  out  of  every  nine  or  ten  weeks  did  the  schoolhouse 
play  a part  in  the  recreational  life  of  its  neighborhood.  The  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  was  doing  excellent  community 
work ; but  the  same  could  not  be  said  for  the  Young  Men’s;  and  the 
churches  as  a whole  had  not  in  any  large  way  taken  the  lead  in 
providing  social  life. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


5 


Meanwhile,  commercial  amusements  were  found  at  every  young 
elbow.  There  was  a large  amount  of  unsupervised  and  uncontrolled 
dancing — much  of  it  carried  on  in  hotels  and  elsewhere  under  con- 
ditions which  might  be  abused.  Billiard  and  pool  halls  were  left  to 
go  their  own  courses ; and  private  clubs  found  a way  around  the  state 
law  against  prize  fights. 

While  only  two  out  of  five  of  the  young  people  in  the  high  school 
went  to  dances,  four  out  of  five  of  them  attended  the  theaters. 
Practically  all  the  high-school  students  went  to  the  movies,  the 
majority  going  without  older  members  of  the  family.  Most  of  the 
motion-picture  theaters  maintained  fairly  satisfactory  conditions 
as  to  ventilation  and  cleanliness,  but  the  city  ordinances  did  not 
provide  for  regular  inspections  to  see  that  the  moral  and  sanitary 
standards  required  before  licensing  were  maintained  afterwards. 
Of  the  four  regular  theaters,  only  one  made  a pretense  at  offering 
anything  more  serious  than  vaudeville,  and  one  was  putting  on  a 
program  and  conducting  a business  which  surrounded  its  patrons 
with  most  objectionable  temptations  to  excessive  drinking  and 
immorality. 

In  fine,  recreational  opportunities  had  changed  in  a generation. 
The  limitations  of  city  life  had  tended  to  substitute  more  passive 
diversions  for  the  old-time  vigorous  play.  The  development  of 
commercial  amusements,  moreover,  was  taking  children  away  from 
home,  and  otherwise  keeping  the  family  from  playing  together. 
Leadership  that  saw  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  values  in  play 
was  an  outstanding  need.  But  even  play  as  a safety  valve  for  the 
venturesome  spirit  of  youth,  play  stripped  of  the  moral  snares  so 
often  set  around  it,  even  these  negative  sides  of  play  had  been 
neglected. 

Intolerable  Correctional  Methods 

This  shortcoming  had  not  a little  to  do  with  the  constant  stream 
of  offenders  coming  up  through  the  police  and  sheriff’s  office, 
through  the  jails  and  other  detention  places,  courts  and  magistrates’ 
offices,  and  on  to  the  prisons  and  penitentiaries.  And  there  a new 
set  of  complications  involving  physical,  moral,  and  other  hazards 


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RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


loomed  up.  In  1914,  for  example,  a considerable  proportion  of  the 
children  who  in  one  way  or  another  had  become  entangled  in  the 
law  were  brought  to  the  county  jail  annex  for  detention.  It  was 
a two-story  building  with  barred  windows  and  doors,  bare,  cold, 
and  insanitary.  It  was  used  as  detention  quarters  for  young 
children,  both  boys  and  girls,  insane  persons,  those  with  delirium 
tremens,  and  occasionally  for  an  ill  person  suffering  from  some  other 
trouble.  The  confinement  of  children  with  such  adults  was  not 
merely  an  occasional  happening,  but  the  rule.  Moreover,  the  doors 
of  the  jail  rooms  were  made  of  bars,  and  persons  confined  in  one 
room  could  readily  see  into  others  on  the  same  floor. 

Thus  many  of  these  children — some  of  them  detained  not  as 
delinquents,  but  merely  as  poor  children — suffered  intolerable  contact 
with  the  insane  and  those  suffering  from  acute  alcoholic  diseases, 
an  experience  not  calculated  to  strengthen  the  moral  fibre  of  the 
youths  in  custody. 

Sample  Glimpses  of  Wrongs  to  be  Righted 

Here  are  a few  sample  situations — sample  maladjustments  and 
wrongs  which  amount  to  community  wickedness.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  most  of  our  American  cities.  Springfield  is  cited  not 
because  it  is  any  worse  than  other  places  (indeed,  it  is  better  than 
many  in  that  it  has  taken  steps  to  correct  some,  at  least,  of  the  evils 
described),  but  because  it  so  nearly  represents  the  average  as  to  be 
typical.*  Nor  do  the  samples  portray  the  whole  reverse  side  of  this 
or  any  other  community’s  conditions;  they  are  merely  a few  snap- 
shots taken  almost  at  random  which  may  help  to  visualize  for  a 
moment  the  type  of  present-day  community  situations  which  are 
calling  for  a new  and  vigorous  application  of  neighborly  service — 
for  a new  application  of  the  principles  of  universal  brotherhood. 

The  sample  glimpses  are  set  forth  at  some  length  because,  as 
already  intimated,  they  make  up  one  of  the  two  essential  parts,  it 
seems  to  me,  of  any  description  of  the  constructive  forces  at  work 

‘Illustrations  taken  from  findings  of  the  Springfield  Survey.  3 vols.  Russell  Sage  Foundation, 
New  York. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


7 


in  community  life.  They  help  to  define  the  scope  of  the  activities 
aimed  at  betterment.  They  show,  moreover,  among  other  things, 
that  much  of  the  distress  and  wrong  of  modern  life  is  deeply  im- 
bedded in  conditions  that  are  community-wide  or  wider,  that  are 
beyond  the  power  of  the  individual  alone  to  solve.  He  is  helpless, 
for  example,  in  safeguarding  his  health  and  that  of  his  family  unless 
the  community  does  its  part.  He  is  similarly  helpless  in  obtaining 
proper  school  facilities,  recreational  opportunities,  and  fair  working 
conditions.  His  course  is  through  organized  effort,  through  the 
united  action  of  himself  and  his  neighbors,  which,  since  neighbors 
embrace  more  than  those  living  next  door,  means  organized  effort 
that  is  community-wide. 

The  amount  of  work  being  carried  on  in  our  communities  aimed 
at  meeting  these  broad  community  needs  is  of  large  proportions; 
and  the  agencies  through  which  it  is  being  done  are  literally  multi- 
tudinous. A description  of  them  one  by  one  is  hardly  practicable 
here.  The  most  acceptable  alternative  appears  to  be  a sketch  of 
three  types  of  effort  which,  in  some  degree,  embody  principles  and 
methods  used  by  many  others — in  some  measure,  perhaps,  by  all.- 

Friendly  Service  in  the  Home 

The  first  type  is  that  represented  by  the  charity  organization 
society  in  its  service  to  disorganized  families,  a form  of  service 
which  centers  in  the  home.  “One  chief  aim  of  this  work,”  to  quote 
from  a paragraph  or  two  of  principles  laid  down  in  Francis  H. 
McLean’s  recent  survey  report  on  the  charities  of  Springfield,  “is 
the  elimination  of  abnormal  conditions  of  family  life  and  the  pro- 
motion of  normal  conditions.  This  obviously  implies  the  belief  that 
conditions  can  be  changed  and  improved.  The  idea  of  any  class  of 
people  being  predestined  and  hopelessly  chained  to  poverty  and 
misery  is  repudiated  once  and  for  all.  When  family  life  is  abnormal 
there  must  be  some  reason  or  reasons  for  it — reasons  for  the  most 
part  that  are  ascertainable  and  which  past  experience  has  proved  in 
some  measure  to  be  removable.  Here,  for  example,  is  a family  in 


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RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


distress  because  the  chief  breadwinner  has  incipient  tuberculosis 
and  has  been  forced  to  give  up  his  work;  there  are  no  savings  or 
other  resources,  and  outside  aid  is  needed.  Obviously  the  key  to  the 
situation  lies  in  the  father’s  restoration  to  health.  As  long  as  there 
is  hope  of  restored  health  there  is  hope  for  restored  family  normality. 
Modern  charitable  effort,  in  addition  to  temporary  aid,  would  be 
directed  toward  the  father’s  recovery ; it  would  thus  help  the  family 
to  the  place  where  it  could  take  care  of  itself. 

“This  kind  of  effort  involves  much  more,  of  course,  than  the 
giving  of  food,  shelter,  clothes,  and  fuel,  valuable  as  these  may  be 
as  temporary  expedients.  Direct  aid  in  the  form  of  food  and  shelter 
and  the  like  may  or  may  not  be  important  as  part  of  a plan  of  treat- 
ment looking  toward  the  ultimate  restoring  of  normal  home  con- 
ditions; but  if  it  were  the  sum  of  all  aid  offered  it  would  tend  in 
many,  if  not  most  cases,  to  destroy  self-respect  and  to  create  a 
chronic  condition  of  dependency.  Direct  material  aid,  for  the  most 
part,  is  merely  one  means  to  an  end.  In  the  case  of  the  tuberculous 
father  referred  to,  the  family  may  need  to  be  supplied  temporarily 
with  food,  shelter,  and  clothes  while  the  father  is  under  the  phy- 
sician’s care,  but  this,  as  already  indicated,  is  incidental  to  the 
provision  of  service  to  stamp  out  the  tuberculosis  infection  respon- 
sible for  the  family’s  disability.  The  emphasis  is  therefore  placed 
upon  thoughtful  service  as  well  as  material  gifts — service  in  the  form 
of  careful  consideration  and  study  of  the  needs  of  a family,  and 
working  in  co-operation  with  the  family  and  its  connections.” 

This  type  of  service  may  be  described  as  case  work.  It  inves- 
tigates the  factors  that  need  to  be  taken  into  account  in  working  out 
a family’s  problem — it  diagnoses  the  family’s  case — and  then  assists 
in  carrying  out  the  remedy  prescribed. 

But,  “to  cure  a disabled  family,  as  in  curing  a sick  individual, 
it  is  essential  that  the  treatment  be  not  interfered  with  by  those  who 
do  not  know  the  full  facts  of  the  case  and  the  treatment  already 
prescribed.  If  the  social  agencies  do  not  work  together  closely, 
placing  facts  at  each  other’s  disposal  and  co-operating  in  a unified 
plan  for  constructive  assistance,  there  is  danger  that  they  may  work 
at  cross  purposes  with  each  other  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


9 


family  they  would  aid.  Thus  the  attempt  to  do  more  than  temporize 
by  furnishing  daily  relief  only  to  those  in  need  requires  of  the 
agencies  that  they  no  longer  regard  themselves  as  at  liberty  to  work 
independently  of  their  colleagues,  or  to  work  in  the  dark  without 
inquiring  carefully  and  so  discovering  all  that  may  be  known  by 
others  about  a family.  ...  In  earlier  years,  when  communi- 
cation was  not  so  easy,  individual  effort  may  have  offered  the  best 
means  of  providing  for  all  needs ; but  today  the  agencies  must  regard 
themselves  as  part  of  a whole  community’s  equipment  for  social 
service,  ready  to  render  co-operative  and  special  service  in  the  larger 
scheme  of  helping  families  out  of  abnormal  conditions  and  into  as 
full  living  as  may  be.” 

Such  is  the  ideal  which  organized  charity,  through  its  family 
work  (the  phase  of  its  activities  under  discussion  here),  seeks  to 
reach.  Not  all  of  its  societies  succeed,  but,  whatever  the  fact  as 
to  that,  its  work  among  families — its  friendly  effort  to  help  people 
to  help  themselves — illustrates  a form  of  service  along  the  lines  of 
which  many  other  organizations  are  active.  Among  them  may  be 
listed  such  agencies  as  visiting-nurse  associations,  juvenile  protective 
leagues,  city  departments  of  public  welfare,  public  outdoor  relief 
departments,  school  attendance  bureaus,  hospital  social-service  de- 
partments, children’s  institutions,  child-welfare  associations,  day 
nurseries,  child-placing  agencies,  committees  for  mental  hygiene, 
churches,  children’s  courts,  reform  schools,  parole  bureaus  of  prison 
departments,  tuberculosis  associations,  baby-health  stations,  and  on 
through  a long  list. 

A New  Social  Value  Placed  Upon  Talk  and  Discussion 

The  second  type  of  service  being  promoted  on  a community-wide 
basis  to  meet  such  needs  as  have  been  indicated  is  that  afforded  by 
those  public  forums  which  are  open  to  the  discussion  of  social  and 
Civic  issues.  They  include  the  pulpit  and  the  press,  both  of  which, 
through  their  contributions  still  are  sadly  inadequate,  nevertheless 
are  giving  thought  and  space  to  social  and  civic  matters  to  a degree 
never  before  known.  But  many  other  platforms  have  been  set  up  in 


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recent  years  also.  Important  among  them  are  women’s  clubs,  where 
the  study  of  Browning  and  Tennyson  has  been  forced  to  share  at 
least  equal  honors  with  questions  of  safe  milk,  disposal  of  garbage, 
promotion  of  health-education,  clean  streets,  and  the  like.  Civic 
clubs  of  a dozen  names  and  shades  of  interest  have  sprung  up  in 
many  places  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  providing  a common  meeting- 
ground  for  citizens  interested  in  promoting  the  public  good;  and 
the  school  social-center  movement,  which  includes  the  use  of  the 
school  buildings  for  afternoon  and  evening  clubs,  mothers’  organi- 
zations, parent-teachers’  associations,  lectures,  public  meeting,  de- 
bates, and  the  like,  has  made  rapid  strides  in  the  last  few  years. 
The  full  list  is  long.  It  includes  public  commons;  college  lectures 
and  extension  courses;  academies  of  medicine,  and  of  political  and 
social  science ; social  settlements ; labor  unions ; consumers’  leagues ; 
chambers  of  commerce;  municipal  leagues;  institutes  and  special 
study  classes;  city,  state,  and  national  conventions  and  conferences 
on  education,  health,  labor,  charities,  corrections,  etc. ; public  exhi- 
bitions, expositions,  exhibits  and  museums ; and  many  other  centers 
of  public  discussion  and  of  dissemination  of  information. 

All  of  these  put  a new  valuation  upon  talk  and  discussion  as  an 
agency  for  community  advance.  They  recognize  that  progress  in 
the  every-day  conditions  of  life  is  dependent  upon  progress  in 
thought , upon  the  spread  of  ideas,  upon  the  application  to  old  con- 
ceptions of  new  information  and  fact,  and  upon  the  maintaining  of 
an  open  mind  upon  all  questions  that  cannot  be  safely  regarded  as 
conclusively  and  unmistakably  settled  for  all  time.  To  these  centers 
where  facts  and  ideas  are  exchanged  and  pooled  and  tested,  an 
illustrative  group  of  which  have  been  enumerated,  must  be  credited 
a part,  at  least,  in  many  or  most  of  the  forward  steps  taken  by  our 
communities. 

Social  Research  and  Teaching 

A third  type  of  community  service  is  the  social  or  community 
survey.  In  its  final  analysis  it  has  two  parts : it  is  an  implement  of 
research  or  investigation,  and  it  is  an  educational  measure.  As  an 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


II 


implement  of  investigation  it  is  an  attempt  in  the  field  of  civic  and 
social  reform  to  do  merely  what  the  civil  engineer  does  before  he 
starts  to  lay  out  a railroad,  what  the  sanitarian  does  before  he  starts 
a campaign  against  malaria,  what  the  scientific  physician  does  before 
he  treats  a case.  It  is,  in  short,  a method  by  which  tested  information, 
the  pertinent  facts,  are  substituted  for  conjecture  or  mere  guess  in 
deciding  on  policies  and  laying  out  community-wide  programs  of 
improvement. 

But  when  the  facts  have  been  gathered  and  analyzed,  when 
conclusions  have  been  drawn  as  to  what  they  mean,  and  recommenda- 
tions for  improvement  have  been  worked  out,  findings,  conclusions, 
and  recommendations  need  to  be  presented  to  the  public.  The  survey 
then  becomes  an  educational  measure.  It  goes  on  the  theory  that 
the  best  interests  of  democracy  demand  that  the  community  be  in- 
formed upon  community  matters,  and  thereby  be  provided  with  a 
basis  for  intelligent  public  opinion.  It  would  thus  be  a school  whose 
teaching  is  not  confined  to  children  and  youth,  but  which  aims  to  get 
its  facts  and  message,  expressed  as  simply  as  possible,  before  the 
whole  people.  To  this  end  it  utilizes  as  many  channels  of  education 
as  possible. 

If  the  information  and  knowledge  it  has  obtained  are  to  become 
a part  of  the  common  experience  of  the  community,  moreover,  it 
recognizes  that  the  individual  or  organization  who  would  speak  to 
millions  nowadays  has  great  competition.  With  the  rapidly  multi- 
plying inroads  and  drafts  upon  the  individual’s  leisure  time,  the 
social  surveyor  must  put  his  message  in  a way  that  is  both  interesting 
and  quick,  and  easy  to  understand.  The  daily  press,  the  graphic 
exhibit,  the  illustrated  periodical,  the  public  address  and  entertain- 
ment, the  motion-picture  screen,  as  well  as  the  printed  pamphlet  and 
book  report,  all  are  utilized;  and  utilized,  moreover,  with  as  great 
a command  as  possible  of  the  technique  of  these  different  publicity 
mediums. 

In  the  last  decade  the  social-survey  idea  has  spread  enormously. 
Vital  as  the  idea  was  in  itself,  it  also  doubtless  drew  some  of  its 
momentum  from  the  collateral  movements  in  certain  public  and 


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private  agencies  which  during  a number  of  years  have  been  emphasiz- 
ing scientific  inquiries  into  social  conditions  as  a part  of  their  routine. 

Among  these  are  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  the 
United  States  Children’s  Bureau,  and  the  Federal  Public  Health 
Service,  state  and  city  boards  of  health,  civic  federations,  churches, 
home  and  foreign  missionary  societies,  Sunday  school  associations, 
Young  Men’s  and  Young  Women’s  Christian  Associations,  social 
service  commissions,  chambers  of  commerce,  child  labor  committees, 
tax  associations,  women’s  clubs,  civic  improvement  societies,  vice 
commissions,  city  boards  of  public  welfare,  state  boards  of  charities, 
private  charitable  societies,  recreation  associations,  committees  of 
private  citizens,  many  colleges  and  universities,  and  a few  periodicals, 
public  libraries,  and  normal  schools — not  to  mention  a number  of  the 
philanthropic  foundations. 

This  use  of  investigation  and  survey  as  an  agency  for  social 
betterment  is  also  seen  in  the  contemporaneous  creation  of  bureaus’ 
of  municipal  research,  and  of  large  numbers  of  city,  state,  and  federal 
commissions  on  economy  and  efficiency. 

Universal  Brotherhood  in  These  Services 

Here,  then,  among  the  many  different  agencies  for  community 
service  are  three  general  types : first,  a service  which  unites,  as  far 
as  possible,  all  of  the  resources  of  the  community  in  meeting  the 
needs  of  the  individual  or  the  individual  family,  which  provides  a 
careful  diagnosis  with  co-operative  and  friendly  treatment  of  case 
upon  case  of  abnormal  family  life;  second,  a service  which  leads 
into  new  paths  of  social  advancement  and  community  improvement 
through  the  exchange  of  ideas  and  the  spread  of  enlightened  and 
progressive  thought;  and  third,  a community  service  which  would 
bring  all  of  the  benefits  of  science  and  practical  experience  to  bear 
upon  social  conditions,  and,  through  careful  analysis  of  complex 
situations  and  effective  presentation  to  the  public  of  findings  and 
recommendations,  endeavor  not  only  to  correct  the  wrongs,  but  to 
quicken  the  constructive  forces  that  show  promise.  The  three  types 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


13 


are  representative  of  many  other  social  and  civic  agencies  which  are 
trying  to  unite  the  community  in  a service,  not  for  the  few,  but  for 
the  many,  agencies  which  are  everywhere  in  the  modern  community 
trying  to  eliminate  those  economic,  industrial,  and  social  conditions 
which,  as  Bishop  Charles  D.  Williams  points  out  in  one  of  his  recent 
books,  “are  making  the  Christian  life  practically  impossible.” 

Finally,  the  conclusion  becomes  apparent  that  these  are  among 
the  important  types  of  work  being  carried  on  to  promote  the  prin- 
ciples of  universal  brotherhood  in  communities;  for  the  principles 
of  universal  brotherhood  mean  love  of  neighbors,  and  that  in  turn, 
when  translated  into  action,  means  service  to  neighbors.  They  are 
types  of  endeavor  invented  to  give  one  community  member  a means 
of  discharging  his  duty  to  other  community  members.  And  just 
as  the  word  neighbor  has  a broader  interpretation  than  the  person 
next  door,  so  this  service  can  and  does  and  should  go  farther  than 
the  borders  of  the  neighborhood  or  of  the  community  or  of  the  city. 
Its  limits  are  only  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  world  appears  to  be  so  adjusted  that  those  who  would  serve 
their  distant  neighbors,  who  would  make  their  own  practice  of  the 
principles  of  universal  brotherhood  reach  all  peoples  and  all  lands 
can  do  so  by  practicing  the  principles  of  universal  brotherhood  close 
at  hand — in  the  locality,  in  their  own  community.  Let  those,  then, 
who  would  love  their  neighbors  near  and  far  effectively — who  would 
express  their  love  in  a way  that  is  more  than  sounding  brass  or  a 
clanging  cymbal — let  them,  whether  they  are  travelers  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  Jericho  or  sojourners  in  Bethlehem,  Butte,  or  Bisbee, 
let  them  labor,  by  the  simple  means  of  friendly  personal  service  and 
of  educating  the  community,  to  stamp  out  injustice,  ignorance, 
neglect,  public  indifference,  disease,  institutional  inefficiency,  brutal- 
ity,  aggression  and  all  the  other  enemies  of  the  highest  self-develop- 
ment and  self-expression  of  their  fellow-men ; and  the  results  of  their 
efforts  will  register  not  only  at  home,  but  to  the  circumference  of 
society. 


The  Springfield  Survey 

Springfield,  Illinois 


Sectional  Reports 

Public  Schools  of  Springfield.  Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Ph.  D. 
152  pages,  68  illustrations  . 25  cents 

Care  of  Mental  Defectives,  the  Insane  and  Alcoholics 
in  Springfield.  W.  L.  Treadway,  M.  D.  46  pages,  14  illus- 
trations . . . . .15  cents 

Recreation  in  Springfield.  Lee  F.  Hanmer  and  Clarence  A. 

Perry . 133  pages,  53  illustrations  . . 25  cents 

Housing  in  Springfield.  John  Ihlder.  24  pages,  15  illustra- 
tions .....  . 15  cents 

Charities  of  Springfield.  Francis  H.  McLean.  185  pages, 
11  illustrations  . . . . 25  cents 

Industrial  Conditions  in  Springfield.  Louise  C.  Odencrantz 
and  Zenas  L.  Potter . 173  pages,  18  illustrations  . 25  cents 

Public  Health  in  Springfield.  Franz  Schneider , Jr.  159 
pages,  64  illustrations  . . .25  cents 

Correctional  System  of  Springfield.  Zenas  L.  Potter. 
185  pages,  32  illustrations  . . .25  cents 

City  and  County  Administration  in  Springfield. 

D.  0.  Decker  ....  25  cents 

Springfield:  The  Survey  Summed  Up.  (In  preparation.) 
Shelby  M.  Harrison  . 


In  addition  to  the  separate  reports  listed  above,  a 
library  edition  of  three  cloth-bound  volumes  will 
be  available  shortly.  Vols.  I and  II  are  now  ready. 
Price  $4.00  for  the  set. 


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RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 

130  East  Twenty-second  Street  - - New  York  City 


